Two Australian nurses — a man and a woman — who appeared to threaten Israeli patients and brag about refusing to treat them in a video shared on TikTok have been suspended.
The New South Wales Police are investigating the two nurses who work at a Sydney hospital. They believed the individuals involved in the video had been identified.
According to Reuters, a TikTok user, Max Veifer, posted a video in which the two nurses, in medical scrubs, made the inflammatory remarks.
"I'm so upset that you're Israeli ... eventually you're going to get killed and go to (hell)," the man said after Veifer mentioned he was from Israel.
Next, the female nurse told the patient that he would be killed, adding, "It's Palestine's country, not your country".
The two nurses continued to make threatening gestures, with the woman saying she wouldn't treat Jewish patients and instead kill them. The man said he had already sent several Israelis to "Jahannam", which means hell in Arabic.
New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park said the investigation was underway, adding he would make sure there was not a "sliver of light to allow any of them" to think they would ever work for New South Wales Health again." Mr Park added a "rapid" examination of hospital records didn't show anything unusual.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also called out the "sickening and shameful" video after it went viral. Mr Albanese said he had seen the " disgusting, antisemitic video," adding it was driven by hate. "The comments are vile, the footage is sickening, and it is shameful," he said in the parliament.
The incident came less than a week after Australia passed stringent laws against hate crimes following a string of antisemitic attacks, BBC reported.
Nearly 200 people have been charged since October 2023 in New South Wales – where Sydney is located – with crimes linked to antisemitism, according to police.
